Best Tires for the Toyota Tacoma

My pickup (2017 Toyota Tacoma) is my daily driver and I need snow performance to enjoy winter sports. Winter here is mostly rainy and snow cover barely lasts a week or 2 so full winter tires aren't a good deal. I still need the all seasons to handle snow on my way to the ski resort. The LTX MS replaced the OE tire that came with the truck out of the showroom, all the way back in 2018 and around 35k miles. The pickup has been driven 55k additional miles since. Everything about the tire was great when new, didn't have to worry too much about traction on fresh snow days on my way to the ski resort. At 7+ years now, its age is starting to show, still within tread life warranty and tread depth left, but the traction in the wet is not so confidence inspiring anymore. Overall a great do-it-all tire.

I will swap out the old tires this year, but the price of LTX MS 2 isn't making the decision a no-brainer. There are better value (with performance) options out there as seen in the latest HT tire review on this website. But reviews only test tires when new, and not at a year or 2 old, so maybe I will come back to the Defender LTX MS, as I was content with the performance of the LTX MS 1 tires for a long time.

I've had them all... KO, KO2, KO3, Michelin AT2, Yokohama GO15 (terrible), and more...

The Toyo and the BFG is neck and neck for performance on dirt/snow/dry.
The Toyo is better than the KO3 at hydroplane resistance when you hit one tire in a deep puddle. It tracks much straighter and gives better confidence.
The Toyo is slightly quieter than the KO2, slightly louder than the KO3 (splitting hairs here).
The Toyo wears through its more useful rubber and siping at about 40k miles on both my GX470 (P265/70/17) and my Tacoma (LT285/70/17). There is no real benefit in mileage on a light truck/suv between standard load and LT sizing... it's just warranty numbers because the LT tire is rated for big trucks that might tow...
The BFG looks way cooler due to it's sidewall lugs
The Toyo is SLIGHTLY better on ice, although the BFG stops slightly better on packed snow.
IF you're in the rockies with a dry climate and lots of packed snow driving... either option suits well...
IF you live in a desert climate... I think the BFG for sure.

This is a very cost effective tire, they were half the cost of Blizzak DM-V2 in this size and have significantly exceeded my expectations considering the price. I have these on a 4th generation Tacoma TRD Off-Road mounted on 18x7.5'' TRD Sport wheels. Compared to my experience with Blizzak DM-V2's on a previous vehicle, these feel more confident in wet conditions. My ratings reflect that the Blizzak DM-V2 is better on snow, but these are still very competent and predictable. On ice the directional control is decent, but the acceleration and braking traction is weak with a slow recovery from excess slip. Overall these are very satisfactory for the low cost and have a good balance of snow and wet grip, but ice grip is a clear step below the premium studless winter tires.

Ride comfort is a moderate weakness due to excessive motion after impacts. Noise is decent, comparable to my OE BF Goodrich Trail Terrain tires. The steering has fairly vague feedback when loaded, but feels reasonably precise on center.

My 3rd year running them all season and been extremely happy with traction and wear!! We get some nasty winters and zero issues with snow. Ice is the biggest weakness so far.

Worn about 4/32 on a Tacoma with about 30,000 miles. Tires do spin in the rain and rear sometimes slides out when corner and bit faster. But noise isn’t much louder then an aggressive all terrain. Predictable road manners. Havnt had issues in snow however ice is similar to the wet/rain traction. Off road they are solid and have seen a lot of abuse with much cuts or tears.

General overview:
Good for on road driving, logging road mains/light off-roading & construction sites. Good fuel economy & comfort/ handling. Wore not to my liking most likely due to more intense off road driving.


New on road:
Very good in dry conditions.
Quite good in snow and wet.
Handling is solid and ride is decently comfortable as it is an SL not an E rated tire.
Pretty good fuel economy, it is 41lbs so not heavy.


Worn in on road:
Very good in dry conditions.
Still quite good in snow, and wet grip, but wet braking performance has diminished more than I would like.
Handling still feels very good.
Fuel economy still good.
Tires wore poorly most likely due to my more intense off roading. Tread lugs starting to chip and round but are still very durable, no punctures.


Offroad overview:
They do preform very well off road in loose steep climbs and fresh packed snow climbs when airing down. I am quite surprised as the tread pattern does not look very aggressive.
Very durable even being an SL rated tire. Never had a puncture even while going off road with sharper rocks with airing down a little.

Overall quite happy with them and would buy again if I did not do as intense of off roading as I do now. But they are not the tires for me anymore.

We live in the PNW and need an excellent wet traction tire with decent snow handling characteristics for the mountain passes. We also tow a 4,000lbs camper and wanted lateral strength and durability. Finally a tire that is about the same weight as stock for excellent gas mileage. These tires have been impressive on all counts and we have absolutely no regrets. Thank you Nokian!

I've run the Nokian NATs, Toyo Observe GSI6 ICE and Goodyear wranglers. Obviously, this blows the all terrains out of the water in the snow. It's very near to the Toyo in snow, falls a little bit behind in ice. Very progressive tire, extremely easy to understand what's happening under the vehicle in transition between slides and acceleration. Overall, a extremely good value.

I've had these tires on my 3rd generation tacoma for about 40k miles now, with about 6/32 of tread left. Initial impressions were excellent. The tires were quiet, with excellent dry and wet grip. I was also impressed with snow traction, though I didn't do much snow or ice driving in general. Now at 40k miles, the tires are a bit louder and I notice dry grip seems to have diminished a bit. I would consider buying them again, but note that performance does seem to drop a bit as the miles pile up.